Melting the Ice
by Phoenixica24
Summary: A strange girl from future USA comes into contact with a strange staff during a car crash that transports her to the Feudal Era. Chaos ensues. Please R&R!
1. Prologue

**A/N: Thanks to my beta Azzie for going over this for me! Please R&R!**

Melting the Ice:

Prologue: The Way Things Used to Be:

Red light changed to gold, falling softly through the leaves. A young teenage girl picked up her pace, eager to see the sunrise. Breaking into a full-out run, she was grateful none of the children from the village had tagged along. She could wear the clothes of her native land without worrying about propriety.

Several months ago, Melody had been driving home from practice with her father when a speeding semi ran a red light and slammed into the car. It had caught the back end and the car had swung around, the bumper sliding under the back of the semi. Strapped to a support on the side was an odd-looking staff. When she regained consciousness amidst the flashing lights of emergency vehicles, she was clutching the piece of wood as if her life depended on it. She could hear voices, some in English, some in a language that sounded Asian. Maybe Japanese. She didn't know. She hurt too much to care.

"There's a girl over here!"

"She's hurt! Bring a stretcher!"

"He's dead..."

"Her father?"

"Poor girl."

"Stand back, please!"

Opening her eyes, she saw two worlds. One was full of flashing lights and screaming voices, the other a quiet forest clearing. Shying away from the lights, she followed the staff in her hand to the clearing, lying down under a bush at the edge to rest.

She'd been awoken by voices nearby. She couldn't understand the language, but was sure now that it was Japanese, and the same one she'd heard before.

Once again forcing her eyes open, she saw a group of women staring down at her. One of them said something, and she blinked.

"I don't speak Japanese." she told them, hoping they'd understand that since she spoke a different language, she couldn't understand them. They talked amongst themselves for a little while, then one of them picked up the staff, yelped, and dropped it in pain. The woman nearest Melody tugged on her arm, helping her sit up before gesturing to the staff. Melody picked it up easily, and the women gasped. They huddled together once more, talking urgently. Finally, the woman who had helped her sit up came over, gently taking her hand and leading her with the others, out of the clearing.

They walked for a while, maybe an hour, before they reached the edge of the forest. Down a little slope was a village, straight out of ancient Japan. Wooden houses and primitively irrigated fields. Melody's eyes opened wide as she followed the women into the village. People gathered around, and they all talked, but Melody couldn't understand anything they said. Finally, the woman who had led her there came over, and pointed at herself. "Chihiro."

Recognizing that that was the woman's name, Melody nodded, pointing at her. "Chihiro-san?" The woman nodded happily. Melody pointed back at herself. "Melody."

"Merodi." they repeated, happy to have achieved some sort of verbal communication. Chihiro pulled on Melody's arm again, leading her away from the others.

"Koi." Melody nodded, following her to one of the houses. Chihiro gave her food and a change of clothes, taking her to a pond to bathe and pointing out everything they saw, teaching her the words for them. They had a lot of fun exchanging languages. Melody came up with the idea for teaching verbs-doing the action while saying 'I do', and when the other repeated it saying 'you do'.

They stayed out fairly late, but Chihiro practically ran for home once the sun went down. Melody didn't understand 'yokai' but followed anyway, finding it difficult to run in the traditional Japanese dress.

This went on for four months. Melody picked up the language quickly, and within a month started learning to write it from the local priestess. She helped Chihiro and the women with daily work, and once they found out that she was sixteen and unmarried, they had quite a bit of fun trying to set her up with the single men in the village. Chihiro ended up being the one engaged, however. Melody remained acutely aware that she didn't belong there.

Her first encounter with demons occurred when the village was attacked. The whole place was burnt down two months after she'd arrived. She helped rebuild, even taking on the men's jobs, to the shock of the villagers. It didn't matter to her. These people had been so kind, she'd wanted to repay them.

Now, four months after her arrival, she wanted to know more. Why was she here? What was the staff? It was just a plain stick to her. One end slid into the other, making it half its size and easy to tuck into a sash tied around her waist. Chihiro guessed that it was a weapon of some sort, but no one knew what or how to wield it.

Turning back, she ran back towards the village, only to pause as she heard voices. A young girl sang along with a very frog-like voice, croaking out a tune many children used in their games. Melody ducked and crept closer, coming to a clearing where a frog-demon rested together with a young human girl. A two-headed dragon watched over them, huffing in Melody's direction. The frog-demon stood up, silencing the song.

"Stay back, Rin." he ordered. The girl nodded, backing against the dragon guard. Melody stepped forward, knowing full well now how dangerous it was to approach a demon, but he was tiny, and he traveled with a young human girl.

"I mean you no harm." she said carefully. "My name is Merodi, and I belong to the village at the edge of the forest. I am just returning home."

The frog-demon glanced at Rin before waving his two-headed staff around in front of him. He really looked rather harmless, but Melody still played it careful. "Go on home, then, human!" he snapped. Melody turned and left quietly.

Reaching Chihiro's house, she announced her arrival and slid inside, settling easily back into their routine, for now.


	2. Chapter 1: Robbers!

**A/N: Thanks to my beta Azzie for looking this over for me! Dedicated to her and to NinjaOfSilence for following! Anything that tells me someone appreciates my efforts is welcome, though reviews are preferred! ;) Thanks!  
**

Melting the Ice:

Chapter One: Robbers!

"Chihiro-chan!" Melody called, running back to her friend. "Look!" She held up her collection, a basket full of medicinal herbs.

"Amazing!" Chihiro exclaimed. "Hurry, take them to Miko-sama. Her sister is ill, and these will do her good. I'll start cooking." Melody nodded, turning and running back in the direction she'd come.

By the time she started back home, the sun had set. The priestess had offered to let her stay the night, but she wanted to get back to Chihiro, or she knew her friend would worry.

As she ran out of the forest, she hit something stepping out from behind a tree, hard. As she fell, she saw flames leaping from the rooftops of the village, and panicked. Not even noticing the demons staring at her in shock, she screamed "Chihiro-chan!" and ran for her friend's house. She could see her friend running for the edge of the village, towards her, but a night robber rode up beside her.

"Such a pretty girl. I think I'll make you my prize." he sneered, grabbing Chihiro by the waist and pulling her up onto his horse.

"Merodi-chan! Run!" Chihiro shrieked. The robber turned, and laughed.

"Another one? Today must be my lucky day!"

"You only get one per village, fool! That one'll be mine!" his partner shouted.

"Be quiet!" the first robber snarled, drawing his sword.

Up by the trees, Rin gasped. "That girl! Jaken, do something! Sesshomaru-sama!"

"Rin, be quiet! The actions of one silly human girl do not concern Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken snapped.

"Why?" Sesshomaru asked Rin. "Why do you want to save her? You don't know her."

"We met her in the forest this morning. She said she was returning home." Rin explained. "I heard her singing when she left-she sings like my mother." she whispered. Sesshomaru blinked.

"Stay here." he ordered, then ran for the village.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin called after him.

"Fool." Jaken muttered.

_Why didn't I know she was coming?_ He was only slightly annoyed that the girl hadn't paid him any attention, not even apologizing for running into him!

Pausing at the edge of the village, he looked around to see her wrestling with a night robber. His interest kindled, he went over to watch. It didn't look like she needed too much help.

Melody was tiring quickly, though. The robber threw her back on the ground and she hissed in pain as her back snapped straight. She tried to hurl herself forward, but the robber slammed down on top of her. She froze, mind going into panic mode as he forced her down, and lashed out blindly, striking the side of his face with her nails. He snarled furiously and pushed down harder. Stars swam before her eyes, and she knew she was about to faint. She curled up into a ball, desperately trying to think of any way out of this.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. She had spirit, he had to admit that. But she was no trained warrior. The way the man was forcing himself on her made him sick. Humans were so disgusting.

Running forward again, he slammed into the robber, throwing him away from the still form of the girl.

Feeling the weight disappear, Melody cracked open one eye to see a tall man standing over her, hair streaming out behind him like he'd been running. He turned to look at her, and she gasped. The markings on his face clearly identified him as a demon lord!

_As if this night could get any worse. But why is he protecting me?_

"Are you all right?" his deep voice carried, even over the screaming and crackling of the flames.

Melody nodded shakily, tucking her legs under her as she tried to stand. She'd torn open both knees when she'd fallen, but the left one was the worst. Blood already covered her leg from the knee down. The grass around her was stained red. Both palms and her left elbow were also bleeding. "Well, sort of all right." she muttered crossly.

_She sounds more annoyed than in pain. How strange._ Most humans would have been in tears, or at least furious, from his experience.

"Run. Go up the hill. Rin and Jaken are waiting for you there."

"Rin-chan?" Melody asked, eyes wide. _So he's with those two! They're a strange group. A demon lord, a frog-demon, and a young human girl, no more than ten._

"Go!" the demon snarled, turning back to the robber. Melody nodded and ran, smoke stinging her eyes. Tears ran down her face, and, making up her mind, she turned back and ran past the demon, who had been coming after her. "Chihiro-chan!" she cried. She could see her friend staggering through the smoke.

"Get her!" another robber yelled, and four of them came after Chihiro. She fell, and didn't get up. Melody ran after them, but they grabbed her instead, and she only just caught a glimpse of her friend's still, bloody form on the ground. "Chihiro-chan!" she cried again. She could just see the demon lord standing at the edge of the destruction, looking rather confused. Then he started after her once more, but the houses between them started to collapse, and the robbers dragged Melody out with them. Something hit her over the head, and the world was blacked out.


End file.
